Christopher Webber:

>"The Merchant of Venice" is an excellent case in point.  Many theatrical
>practitioners feel (I would be one of them) that the play is unperformable
>nowadays without offending against either (a) aesthetic or (b) ethical
>integrity.  It is impossible to avoid nailing your colours to one of these
>twin masts.  You can't choose both.

I think that Mr.  Webber pointed the "quid" of this thread:  aesthetics
vs.  ethics.  My point is that there is no dilemma:  the ethic offense
doesn't exist in art.  Art is not "ethical", and it doesn't must be.  I'm
a catholic:  should I stop reading Plinius just because he wrote about
christians:  "that bunch of freaks"?.  Danish people should feel offended
too, because Shakespeare shows a danish prince as sissy and irresolute?.
This false dilemma may leads us to certain paths:  the same of those who
condemned Baudelaire and Joyce.  Oh yes, don't say that this is not the
same case:  the work of Baudelaire and Joyce was reputed "inmoral" and
"offensive" in its times.  ("Unperformable"....brrr, what a dangerous
word!...).

PS:  Sorry for my insistence on this thread.  I know that some comments
goes often far beyond music, but this is a debate of particular interest
for me.

Pablo Massa
[log in to unmask]